


Out Of Body Experience

by Shadow_Ink



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Alternate Universe - Ghosts, Angst, Derek gets sad, Everything is Beautiful and Nothing Hurts, Ghost!AU, Happy Ending, I feel like this is really short ?, Idiots in Love, Kinda, M/M, Mates, Mates Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski, The hales live!, a bit of, also, at least it's finished, but not actually, but then he's not sad anymore dw, sorry ?, you'll see - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-28
Updated: 2020-02-28
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:07:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22932277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadow_Ink/pseuds/Shadow_Ink
Summary: Derek gets a visit from a ghost, and then said ghost doesn't leave, and maybe Derek got a bit attached to him.
Relationships: Derek Hale & Laura Hale, Derek Hale & Stiles Stilinski, Derek Hale & The Pack, Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski
Comments: 10
Kudos: 297





	Out Of Body Experience

**Author's Note:**

> So I'm going to make a fanart for this as well and I'm going to post it to my tumblr, here: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/shadowinkkk

Derek sighs when a paper ball hits him in the forehead for what seems to be the thousandth time. He scowls and looks up at Stiles' grinning face,

"Do you even _know_ how to play chess ?," Great, now Stiles was making fun of him, he rubs a hand over his face and startles when it rasps on the beginning of stubble. Stiles gasps,

"Dude! You're _already_ starting to grow a beard ?! How's that even possible!? You're like, 16 !" Stiles goes around the table so he can grab Derek's face, except, of course, he can't, because he isn't exactly corporeal right now, Derek can't _feel_ Stiles' hands on his face. But he knows they're there, and that makes his ears grow hot all the same, so he turns his head to the side in an attempt to hide the obvious blush before Stiles sees it.

"Can't I grow stubble because I'm a ghost or is it because I just can't ?" Derek glanced up at Stiles. He had both of his hands on his own face now, patting his cheeks. They don't actually know if he's a ghost, Deaton wasn't any help, he just kept being cryptic, so they just decided to keep calling him a ghost. It never feels _right_ saying that, like he'll never be able to hug Stiles, and that just goes into a downward spiral of sadness so he avoids thinking about it. Stiles pokes his forehead, or would've if he could,

"You're making the concerned-grumpy-face number #4" Derek snorts, he doesn't know if Stiles actually cataloged all of his expressions.

"What, you're not gonna tell me what's bothering you ?" Derek swats Stiles' hand away, not that it actually worked because again, ghost.

"It's fine, I was thinking about sad stuff," Stiles doesn't like to think about it either, because they don't know if he'll ever be able to just, talk normally to people. He talks to Derek's family, but that's the extent of people who know he exists. He writes little notes and leaves them around the house for them to read, they think he's great. Sometimes Derek will hear his mom laugh out of nowhere and he'll know it's because of one of Stiles' notes. He always smiles at that. But then there's Laura. Laura who keeps pestering Derek about, _"Is he cute?, you can tell me, I'm not gonna tell anyone, he is isn't he ? do you have a crush on him??"_ and really, it's none of her business, so what if he does have, a tiny, insignificant crush on Stiles. It's not like he's in love with the guy right? right.

* * *

When Derek comes home from school the next day Stiles is playing Mario-kart with Laura. They're both so focused they don't see him entering. He puts his backpack on the floor next to the couch before plopping down.

"Sooo, how was school ?" Derek shrugs,

"The usual, homework, talking to Erica, Boyd, Isaac, Kira," He pauses "I talked to Scott today actually," he says

"The new kid ?" Stiles glances over and almost ran out of the road in the game,

"Yeah. . . Erica says he and Kira will be dating in like 2 weeks, and then Isaac explained that it was because they are both made out of rainbows and puppies," Derek snorts, Stiles grins,

"I wish I could meet them sometime," he mumbles then, his smile faltering as he looks back at the TV. Derek presses his lips together into a thin line. His mom was planning one bringing Erica, Boyd, and Isaac into the pack, and with the knowledge of the supernatural, they could meet Stiles. Stiles already knows Kira because she's a kitsune, and if Derek's nose is correct Scott is a wolf. His mom did say a new wolf would be moving in, and that he was to be brought into the pack gradually, since his experience being turned was with a feral alpha that his mom dealt with later on. It was supposed to be a surprise but,

"Mom is thinking of bringing Boyd, Erica, and Isaac into the pack." Stiles immediately sits up with a gasp, his kart crashing in the TV, Laura punches his shoulder, and because she's a werewolf it genuinely hurt. Derek scowls at her while trying to hold back the smile at the way Stiles jumped up and off the couch, already in the middle of a rant about how they would have to make a sleep-over and watch all the star wars movies and how he'd have to question them about Marvel and DC. Then he suddenly pauses and swivels around to look at Derek,

"What if they're scared of me? I mean technically I'm a ghost, and people are scared of ghosts and-" Derek places his hands where Stiles' would be, even though he can't actually hold onto them,

"It's fine, if they aren't scared of werewolves they're not going to be scared of ghosts," Stiles takes a deep breath and nods a little not moving his hands away from Derek's. They both startle when Laura enters the room again, neither of them having seen her walk out of it in the first place,

"you guys want brownies ?" She smirks at Derek while Stiles scrambles for the notebook he uses to communicate, writing down a 'hell yeah I want brownies!' in his chicken scratch.

* * *

Derek groans and looks over at the clock, god he wants to go home. And see Stiles, and maybe play some video-games, and maybe hear Stiles' laugh. What Derek _really, actually_ wants to do is cuddle Stiles for the rest of the afternoon, but he can't, for 2 reasons. One, Stiles doesn't like him like that, Two, the ghost problem. It's starting to get on Derek's nerves, he's read literally every book and legit website he could find to see if there was a way to solve this, but most books talked about unfinished business and how, by solving the said unfinished business, the ghost or spirit would disappear, and that's not what they're looking for. Besides Stiles doesn't remember the way he died, he told Derek that he had gone to sleep on his bed like every day and he was woken up in the middle of the night by a sensation not different than being thrown a few yards, and when he opened his eyes he was near the Hale House, in the middle of the woods. He'd wandered around for a few hours and noticed that people weren't _seeing or hearing_ him until he was sullenly walking down the street and Derek let out a yelp when Stiles walked straight through the person in front of him. That had been a few 3 months ago, ever since then Stiles was always around. Sometimes he left to do things, although what Derek didn't know. The bell signaling the end of class finally rings, startling Derek out of his daydreams. He starts gathering his things into his arms when Kira comes to walk with him to their lockers,

"yo," she grins, "you were totally zoned out at the end of class," she smirks. Because she knows, and really, is Derek _that_ bad at hiding his feelings from people? Does everyone know? Or worse, does _Stiles_ know?

"My mom had to deal with a very old nogitsune recently! It was awful. I mean the nogitsune itself didn't do anything but it had like, all these awful plans written down. The guy it was possessing took a toll because the thing didn't need sleep or food so he's at the hospital right now, he was very happy to be back. He and his dad are actually moving to Beacon Hills, 'cuz mom told them it was safer with the protection of the Hale Pack and also my family" Derek stuffs his things in his locker while Kira speaks, frowns a bit in sympathy.

* * *

When Derek gets home he goes straight to his room, pausing on the way to look for Stiles. He throws his backpack beside his desk and flops face down in his bed.

"thank god it's the weekend," silence, Derek frowns, "Stiles ?" He lifts himself into his elbows and looks around his room. Stiles is nowhere to be seen. 

Derek gets up and off the bed and makes his way through the house, checking every room, nook, and cranny that Stiles could've been for some reason or other. Nothing. Derek scowls, Stiles leaves the house sometimes that's normal, no reason to be concerned. He stops by the kitchen to grab a glass of water,

"Hey Derek, y'know if something happened to Stiles? He hasn't left any notes today ?" His mom must have come from her little garden, she's wearing her gardening apron and is covered in bits of grass and mud.

"He hasn't spoken with you? Since when ?" Derek turns to his mom, his heartbeat accelerating a bit,

"No, he hasn't spoken to anyone, he didn't even leave a note saying he'd left," she frowns, "is he not in the house ?" Derek shakes his head minutely and promptly starts pacing the floor. If Stiles isn't in the house and he didn't tell anyone when or why he left.

"Do you know if anyone came after him ?" Derek asks, still pacing.

"Derek-"

"Maybe he was taken by hunters! Maybe they found a way to see him and-"

"DEREK!" Talia holds onto Derek's shoulders and shakes him a little. He stares up at her concerned face,

"I think he just. . . Moved on." She says it with finality. No skip in her heartbeat. No nervous twitching. Derek feels his stomach drop to his feet, can _feel_ the way his face pales, his vision darkens and blurs at the edges and he leans into his mom. If what his mom said is true he'll probably never see Stiles again. He stares blankly at the air in front of him.

"Derek ?"

"I'll... I think....I'm going to head to my room," he glances at his shoes, "um... yeah." He turns around and makes his way upstairs again. Talia leans her hip on the counter and crosses her arms, looking at the forgotten glass of water, sighs.

* * *

Stiles is vibrating out of his skin. He's finally able to do things, to eat properly, and sleep, and hug people!

Hug people. People like Derek, who's all the way in Beacon Hills probably losing his mind wondering where the hell Stiles went. Not because Stiles is special or anything just because he'd do that if any of his friends disappeared. Stiles goes about his room packing his things. His mom had actually worked with the hales once, to help them make some protective runes around their house, although at the time she had been very young, so the hales didn't even know she had a son.

Stiles grins a little when he thinks about the hale pack. They're all nice people, and the atmosphere around the house is playful and fun and teasing. Laura had shown him some of Derek's old photos of when he wore braces. It was adorable, and Stiles loved him all the more for it. He wasn't scared or panicky about admitting that to himself. He, Stiles Stilinski, was in love with Derek Hale. Now telling _Derek_ that is a whole other story. What with the whole rejection thing. So yeah, Stiles would rather keep being his friend and not tell him and make it weird.

"Everything packed ?" John asks from the doorway,

"I think everything's ready to go, daddio," he throws a thumbs up at him just to be sure. Coming back to his body after apparently a nogitsune having possessed him for those 3 months he'd spent at the Hale House was awful. He slept for 16 hours straight and when he woke up he ate a bit, he wasn't sure if his stomach could handle eating a lot at once, so he'd kept getting small snacks since then.

His dad told him they'd be moving to Beacon Hills, where his mom briefly lived in and had a small house at, because it was safer with the Hale Pack protecting it.

Some hunters had tried to take the Hale Pack down for no apparent reason but the supernatural community _and_ the hunter community didn't like that much so they stopped them. Everyone knows the Hales are all very nice and kind people. Stiles purses his lips in thought while packing the few things left. They also happen to be supernaturally _good-looking_ , sometimes not even in conventional ways, they just exude a certain confidence that makes you think, huh, I shouldn't mess with those people.

Stiles grins. Especially Derek and his grumpy eyebrows and the scowls. Not that that hides the fact that he's a marshmallow from Stiles, he once saw Derek stay at _least_ 4 hours helping Cora do her homework that she was having a really hard time with, and one other time Derek went with Nana Hale to do groceries, and even though Nana could probably carry both Derek _and_ Stiles without breaking a sweat, Derek still helped her, and Nana rubbed a hand through his hair making it look fluffy. That had been a specially bad day for Stiles' heart.

* * *

Derek stares down at his cereal. It's been almost 2 whole weeks since he last saw Stiles. Derek thought it would be bad. It's _worse_. Every time Derek saw something that he thought Stiles would like, he'd grin before remembering Stiles wouldn't be at his house waiting for him to talk about all the different things he saw. Wouldn't be there to babble about, what seemed to be, a well of random knowledge. Or to laugh at very _very_ stupid jokes. Or to talk about Star Wars and Marvel and. There wasn't even a scent left, no comfort of knowing Stiles _had_ been there at some point. Because he technically wasn't. He was. . . a ghost.

"Derek dear, I think you should stay home tomorrow," Nana says from the doorway. Derek scoffs,

"I'm a werewolf... why wouldn't I go to school ?" his voice is devoid of any emotion,

"because you've just lost a friend." She gives him a small sad smile before shuffling back to the living room where she normally stayed at. Derek stares after her, the _way_ she said friend. As if she meant something else. Something more. It hurt, because Derek knew he had missed his chance of saying anything to Stiles, and maybe it had been a very short time, but he knew, deep in his bones, that Stiles was it for him. His mom used to describe these kinds of feelings with a word. Mate. Derek just wants to curl up in his room and maybe stay there forever.

Derek cleans up the bowl he used to eat his cereal, dries it, puts it in its place. Then heads back to his room, to grab a change of clothes so that he can take a bath, and maybe after that, he'll do exactly that, stay in his room.

* * *

Stiles looks around his new room and grins. It feels more, stable. In a small town like Beacon Hills, there's no way his dad is going to get in much trouble, so Stiles can relax a bit more. He pauses. Derek. Stiles winces and makes a run to the stairs tripping on the last 2 steps and almost face-planting on the floor but somehow managing to catch himself just before it happens. Derek must be going out of his mind. Stiles hurries.

* * *

Derek is playing the witcher, he doesn't feel any better, It's been 4 weeks. The front door of the house bangs open loudly with an unfamiliar heartbeat and Derek startles. There are yelps of surprise and talk way too fast for Derek to pick up on and then there's footsteps running up the stairs. Derek frowns and gets up himself, he's not in the best of states, he still takes baths because, werewolf , but his clothes are one of the oldest he has, his sweatpants are worn out and he's pretty sure there's a hole in this particular henley, but he's not dressing to look good, he's dressing for comfort.

Derek gets up and straightens his shirt a bit before going to open his door, just to have it bang open as well, and standing there was. _Stiles_. But he was alive, and his skin was pale, and his eyes were brown, but Derek was sure that in the right lighting they would shine amber. He smells like books, and coffee and a bit of medication that Derek knows is Stiles' Adderal that they talked about, and a bit like ozone, that comes from his spark. All things that they've talked about but Derek could never see or hear or smell anything and now Stiles was _here_ and _okay_ and _alive_. Stiles gives him a big grin,

"Miss me too much ?" _yes_. Derek missed Stiles. He missed Stiles _a lot_. Stiles suddenly sprints across the room and takes a running leap, tackling Derek. If it were anyone else they would've fallen on the floor but thanks to lycanthropy it didn't happen.

Derek stands there stunned for a moment before wrapping his arms around Stiles and holding on for dear life because if he ever loses this incredible moron ever again he's not sure he's going to handle it that well. They stand there for a long moment, just holding each other, marveling at said fact. Derek leans back a little and peers into Stiles' face, and he's struck by the fact that he'd never been able to _touch_ before, his hands bunch Stiles' shirt where they're resting on his hips, and before he can even consider that it might be a mistake he tilts forward and presses his lips to Stiles'.

Stiles' lips are chapped, but soft, and Derek doesn't have time to appreciate them properly because he pulls away with a gasp. _He kissed Stiles_. Derek feels his entire body go cold as if someone threw a bucket of ice cold water over his head, feels his stomach drop,

"I- I'm sor-" Stiles grabs onto his face with both hands and presses their lips back together. This time it's an actual kiss, albeit chaste. It's... nice.

When they take a break for air Stiles' grin is still firmly in place, if a little brighter, then he makes a, fake, serious face,

"if you try to apologize for this kiss too, I _will_ punch you," Stiles grins then, "because I can actually do that now," They both grin at each other.

* * *

From downstairs Talia's voice is heard "This entire house-hold owes me at least 20 bucks each!" followed by various groans from different family members.

**Author's Note:**

> edit*  
> you all are so nice! thank you so much fo the comments/kudos/bookmarks :'DDD


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